Everyone remembers when Michelle Obama said that for the first time in her adult life, "I am proud of my country." Or really, everyone remembers the backlash against her after the statement.

Before winning the Iowa straw poll this past weekend, Michele Bachmann — who's actually running for president, not just married to someone who is — made a similar statement ("You've restored my faith in America"). From the media: crickets. No scandalized response to the implication that there was a time when she did not have faith in America.

On MSNBC's The Last Word last night, Tulane professor Melissa Harris-Perry compared the responses, saying, "We will be an equal society when we can all celebrate and criticize our country together."